Product Data Management Systems: State-Of-The-Art And The Future

We survey the current state-of-the-art in (commercial) Product Data Management (PDM) systems. After identifying the major functions of PDM systems, we indicate various shortcomings of the current PDM technology. An important s h o r t-coming is in the representation and use of functions. We review the functional representation literature in the context of PDM technology. Systems management aspects of an engineering project is also commented on. We believe these two areas are the next two c hallenges awaiting PDM technology in the near future. Product Data Management (PDM) systems are tools that help engineers manage the data and the processes related to product development life cycle. As sophisticated and automated design tools (e.g. CAD systems) became available, the amount of data accumulated about the designed artifact increased dramatically. PDM systems ooer a technology to answer the need of managing such data. PDM systems keep track o f v arious product data that already exists in the enterprise in various forms. One can view PDM systems as having meta-knowledge about the product development life cycle. This meta-knowledge is in the form of knowledge about product structure, processes, and access/change management r u l e s. Basic (desired) functions of a PDM system are: Design Release Management: the process of controlling design data with an electronic vault with check-in/check-out, release level maintenance, access security and review and approval management. This function encompasses the management of all forms of digital product data|CAD les, geometric models, images, documents, etc. Product Structure Management: the ability t o deene, create, maintain, modify and display m ultiple versions of the product structure, including design options and activities over the product data life cycle. Change Management: the ability to deene and manage changes to product data over the life cycle. Change Management is process oriented, deening the events in the cycle of reviewing and approving changes. Classification: ability to classify parts by their structure , function or processes for manufacturing. use of project-oriented scheduling techniques with work breakdown structures but which should be able to manage any facet of systems design (cost, quality, risk, in addition to work ow). Impact analysis: the ability to detect the eeects of a design change to the overall product design life cycle. Most of the commercially available (see the PDM information center 2) PDM systems provide the rst three func-tionalities and the classiication to a degree. The PDM systems are trying …